Movie Review

The incredibles are here again

The waiting has come to an end at last—those who have been waiting for the second installment for ‘Incredibles’ for the last 14 years, can now be relieved at last. The incredible family is back with their new adventures—Incredibles 2 (2018). Jabir Misbah tells about the nostalgia with this series on the backdrop of the emergence of the new generation of superheroes.

Dad lifted me up, and showed me scenic beauties of the horizon that my tiny little body could never climb up to see, is he Superman? My mom stretches and finds everything I can’t find; I wonder how that woman does this and everything else. My annoying little sister keeps running around the house, screaming her head off, maybe that is her superpower, to pester people. Thoughts like these and many more have been the source of childhood enjoyment to every little five-year-old out there in love with his family. Today, I am going to tell you the tale of one Parr family, who are incredible on their own animated world.

The ‘Incredibles’ is an animated superhero adventure movie, considered to be one of Pixar’s finest work which displays a mature yet fun theme that both children and adults can enjoy. Released in 2004 by Walt Disney Pictures, this movie portrays the story of a superhero family, which is forced to live out in the suburbs of the city while hiding their superpowers. A family of five, they have to maintain secrecy in order to avoid the potential dangers it can bring. But what danger does this family have to fear? The father is Mr Incredible himself, who is your everyday non-injected Captain America with massive Superman strength. Mrs Parr or more commonly known as ‘Elastigirl’ back in her day, was the nightmare of all the villains as she could, as you guessed by the name, elastically elongate her body to give a well-deserved kick directly to the shins or if the rival was lucky a gentle tap on the back followed by a star spin inducing punch to the face. If mommy and daddy had this level of uniqueness in their abilities, then how would their three children not be? Starring Violet, Dash and Jack-Jack. Oldest of the trio, being 14 years old, Violet Parr has the power of invisibility and to summon force fields. Dash, as you might have guessed it again through the name can dash real fast having the ability to move on top of water as well. The youngest of the three, an infant in the Incredibles franchise, Jack-Jack is a little kid with multi-talented abilities which were yet to be discovered fully in the movie, but maybe you can ask the normal human babysitter who had to endure the random outbursts of magic from the Jack-Jacks mouth and pants. Overall, maybe you won’t find their powers that cool nowadays, but the fact that a family could host five of these powerhouses which even some modern justice groups, like Avengers, couldn’t handle is comedic and fun to watch.

If you haven’t yet seen this movie already, you might be wondering, in which cinematic universe, do these superheroes belong to, and what are their super heroics? Will they save the world from Darkseid by collecting the mother boxes? Or will they fend off Thanos, in the Marvel World? Although saddening due to the lack of the ‘world is going to doom and the superheroes have to save the day’ in this movie, the Parrs are not that of a disappointment, because they make up for it with the never ending supply of relatability in a super human level. You cannot but relate to Dash, when he is drowning in the middle of the ocean when cries out, ‘We survived but we are dead’. Or maybe you can sympathize with Violet when she goes up to her not so superhero teenage crush and blurts out, ‘Is different okay’?

The best part of this movie to me, was that despite being a superhero film, this film portrayed the family element quite nicely. Marital spats, teenager angst and a drive to keep the family united against all odds, showed us that even superheroes have a heart for blood-relationships and despite the hardship imaged against relationships amongst the superheroes, the Parr family showed that if you try hard, then even that is possible. The film also dictates some of the causes of disruption in family, when Mr Incredible lied to his wife, which he later learns better off. Even, when Violet wanted to date a guy, her mom wouldn’t allow it because of safety concerns, which Violet deemed as stupid because she had magical abilities. But later on, she did convince her mom. See, this is what the movie subtly put outward with a strong message, that family is something you can hold on to even if you are not ordinary.

The movie recently has had its sequel released, with the name ‘Incredibles 2’, which has been received with nostalgic remarks all over the world. With the familiar voices of Samuel L Jackson, Holly Hunter and Craig T. Nelson taking up the stage again, it is surely a must watch for all the 90s kid out there, as their 14 years’ worth of wait has finally come to an end.

This movie sets out as a stark example of the fun loving movies you can sit down and watch with your family on a reunion and have some laughs. Although the movie has been criticised to a certain point based on the fact that it has some elements that may be too mature or violent for the lesser aged children, with its opening scene being that of a man attempting suicide, where he later on was saved by Mr Incredible, but this is one of the very few concepts that you might want to skip if you do not want to explain to your as to why some people might want to leave this beautiful world. But, other than that it is a children’s film, which young parents of today will want to watch with a bag of chips and their kid in between them.